National League Championship Series Game Six
October 15, 1986 at the Astrodome
Mets 7, Astros 6 Mets Win Best of Seven Series 4-2
It was hard to beat game five as far as excitement goes, but game six did it. Rather then summarize it, it’s best to go through this game as it happened.
Bob Ojeda got the start against Bob Knepper in this one. The Mets went down in order but the Astros jumped all over Ojeda. Bill Doran led off with a single and he was forced by Billy Hatcher. Phil Garner then drove home Hatcher with a double and Garner scored on Glenn Davis’ single. Kevin Bass walked and then Davis scored on Jose Cruz’s single. So in the blink of an eye, the Mets were down 3-0.
Bob Knepper then completely shut down the Mets at least through eight innings. In the meantime, Bob Ojeda calmed down and he didn’t a yield a run through his next four innings. He was replaced by Rick Aguilera and he gave up only one hit through the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. The Mets entered the ninth still down by three runs and time was running out.
Lenny Dykstra led off the ninth with triple and he scored on Mookie Wilson’s single. Wilson moved to second on Kevin Mitchell’s ground out and then he scored on Keith Hernandez’s double. Dave Smith came in to pitch for Knepper and he walked Gary Carter and Darryl Strawberry. Then Ray Knight came up huge with a fly ball deep enough to score Hernandez. Wally Backman was given a free pass but Danny Heep struck out to end the inning with a 3-3 score.
Roger McDowell then pitched five innings of one hit ball to hold the Astros to their three runs through the thirteenth inning. The Astros needed three relievers to get that far and when the top of the fourteenth came around, Aurelio Lopez was throwing for the Astros and Jesse Orosco had reliever McDowell.
Gary Carter led off the fourteenth with a single and Strawberry walked. Knight then failed to bunt the batters over and Carter was forced out at third. Then Backman singled and he gave the Mets their first lead of the game, al beit by a single run.
Orosco struck out Doran to start the bottom of the fourteenth but then Billy Hatcher came up huge with a solo shot to tie the game. Orosco got out of the inning with no further damage but the game continued.
Neither team threatened in the fifteenth, but in the sixteenth, all hell broke lose. Strawberry led off the inning with a double and he scored on Ray Knight’s single. Jeff Calhoun replaced Lopez and he then threw a wild pitch that moved Knight to third. Backman walked, but then another wild pitched scored Knight and pushed Backman to second. Orosco moved Backman to third on a bunt and Lenny Dykstra singled home Backman to give the Mets a three run lead. They’d need every single one of those three runs.
Orosco got into trouble early. He did strike out Craig Reynolds to start things but Davey Lopes then walked and he moved to second on Doran’s single. Lopes scored on Hatcher’s single and Doran moved to third when Denny Walling forced Hatcher out at second base. Glenn Davis singled home Doran to cut the lead to one, but Orosco buckled down and struck out Kevin Bass to end the game and the series.
The Mets would go up against the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.
